Beagle Channel

Incredible hotel, 150 rooms.

The linen is exactly what your guests will find in their suites once on board, overlooking the Beagle Channel and the hills at the side, at the back.

Now, the hotel opens on the 18th, 20th of October.

And actually, I'll go a step further because I'm going to be so pleased to be one of the first people from the UK to actually go on the first voyage.

And the reason, by the way, was very straightforward.

Argentina and Chile had been locked into a conflict over the Beagle Channel, which is a body of water and land, very close actually to Ushuaia and Punta Arenas, very strategic, disputed.

The two countries very nearly went to war over the Beagle Channel, later resolved by the intervention of the Pope some years later.

But one of the concerns in Chile was, if Argentina had been successful in 1982... then it was highly likely that Argentina would then turn its attention again towards Chile and it might not end well for Chile.

So, Chile had every incentive to make sure that Argentina did not succeed in its assault on the Falklands in April 1982.

I think that the people need... need to stop talking about the old situation.

Because a time ago, like 13 years ago, we had problems about Iceland in the Beagle Channel in the south of Patagonia.

You know this?

The ice in Patagonia?

Um, without having to go around it, so.

Or maybe it's like the Beagle Channel.

Maybe that's a better analogy than the Straits of Magellan, but I need to get down there.

And then there's a weather station down there, which is, I guess, also abandoned, but not, not this, not this kind of abandoned.

you can't really find Gentoo's and chinstrap stuffed animals in Ushuaia.

It's all Magellanic's because the Magellanic's also live on Penguin Island in the Beagle Channel.

I think that it's, everyone's always trying to find that one, but it's actually the Magellanic.

And I agree, totally an incredible penguin itself.

Introduce them to Southern Patagonia.

Our hotel is overlooking the Beagle Channel.

We've got the Navarino Mountains in the background.

And our hotel will have an inclusive dining and bar experience.

You know, just that area of the world, the southern tip of South America is beautiful.

You know, these cruises go through the Beagle Channel, Glacier Alley.

That would be spectacular.

You've said how much you've enjoyed Glacier Bay.